The FIM Motocross World Championship wants to go global and it is hard to see much wrong with this approach. Youthstream’s attempts to ask the manufacturers (mainly Japanese) at the source to invest in their racing – and subsequently motocross as a sport – was a longshot; especially with the European teams essentially backed by European branches and subsidiaries of the companies. In recent years the series carried a distinctly European flavour with the odd trip abroad; European show, European budget.
The FIM World Championship now appears to have a little more scope, and with markets in Asia, South America and Russia covered (the U.S. still remains a sizable hole as does Australasia and Africa) the need to consider the series on a bigger scale has increased.
If the 2013 calendar does enlarge beyond sixteen rounds and means more use of freight for the teams then the cash to get the show on a plane will have to be found somewhere. A non-factory team with two riders is looking at a cost of around 17-18,000 euros in shipping and travel for a double stint like Mexico and Brazil. That same team could use up to just 50,000 euros per season for a race truck doubling as accommodation for the majority of the European rounds. So the flyaways represent a hefty hike.
Given the current status quo, the scenario of Youthstream packing and shipping the teams’ wares according to a kilo allowance as Dorna do for the competitors in MotoGP seems a distant dream. But the situation could evolve for the better if there was a travel regulation, say one bike per rider (extra material through parts supply could be provided by the distributor of the country visited), one box and a limit on weight. Youthstream President Giuseppe Luongo is attempting to play the long-term game in terms of steering the sport into some greener climes and inflating motocross to a degree that it can’t be ignored by more global entities (i.e. the manufacturers) by going to further territories but he knows this adds more burden. Not only to the riders and crews themselves but also the logistical cost of the series for Youthstream and increased risk of wavering quality control (as anyone who saw the TV coverage from Mexico might attest). As mentioned in a previous issue Youthstream are apparently looking at the collaboration of parties (organiser, YS and teams) to help establish a travel fund and Luongo stated that if he had the top fifteen riders in each class on the gate in a non-European event then he’ll be happy. “The most important part of our sport is the riders,” the Italian said to us at a recent social event and the man is not the deluded plunderer that many of his critics make him out to be; he is well aware how much it costs to get the series on the road and get the GP stars to a far-flung field in Thailand. Like every businessman he’ll stretch the boundaries, but if the sport needs to snap itself out of a rut then a financial band-aid has to come from somewhere.
This might put more pressure on the overseas Grand Prix organisers but if a country like Brazil can entertain the notion of two events in a year then can the added expenditure to ensure a healthy line-up of talent in the gate be too much of a ask…?
